End the Drug War; Solve the Drug Problem: The Public Health Approach

The "Drug War" is an expensive failure. The Drug Problem, resulting from the use of the Recreational Mood Altering Drugs, the RMADs --- nicotine, ethyl alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine, and the like --- is real.  But it is a unity, not, as it is currently presented through the lens of the politically determined ¿licit/illicit¿ dichotomy, a duality.  That unity, figuratively and literally, begins with the use of tobacco products and alcoholic beverages.  A public health-based approach, like the U.S. National Smoking Cessation Program, in many countries has met with great success in dealing with the number one RMAD killer --- nicotine and its associated tars --- without locking up one cigarette smoker.  As proposed in the book, the Public Health Approach to the Drug Problem, for dealing with the harmful use of all the RMADs, is modeled on it. Implementing it could bring the "Drug War" to a swift end. But there are many stakeholders in maintaining the "Drug War" just as it is, from many politicians, Big Pharma., the prison industry, and others, to the drug cartels themselves. The battle is proving to be a tough one. But it must be won. The health of the people depends upon it.